Process and device for doubling on a double needle bed, rib end knitting machine

ABSTRACT

A process and apparatus for knitting a rib end on a greater width of needles than that of the panel to which said rib end is destined, and to automatically bring said rib end to the width of said panel during the transfer of said rib end to a magazine reed.

United States Patent [19 1 Vandermeirsch Oct. 15, 1974 PROCESS ANDDEVICE FOR DOUBLING [56] I References Qited 7 ON A DOUBLE NEEDLE BED,RIB END v 3,349,576 10/1967 Borne 66/148 [75] Inventor g zz g xgg gg ig" Vlctor 3,446,042 5/1969 Fontaine 66/148 g 3,514,978 6/1970Bliederhauser.... I 66/148 [73] Assignee; Fabrique National Hersml SA,en 3,633,385 1/1972 Bruelemans 66/148 abrege EN, Herstai-lez-Liege, a IB l i Primary Examiner-Ronald Feidbaum Y A 7 7 I Filed: y 21,1973 ItlomeywAgent or Firm BaedndL Thomas [211 App]. No.: 362,229 57 r 4 I Aprocess and apparatus for knitting a rib end on a Forelgn AppllcatlonPrlonty Data -g-reater width of needles than-that 0f the panel to June29, 1972 Belgium 785562 which said rib. end is destined, and toautomatically bring said rib end to the width of said panel during the[52] US. Cl. 66/148 transfer of said rib end to a magazine reed. [51]Int. Cl D04b 9/40 v [58] Field of Search 66/95, 96, 90, 76, 147, 4Chums, ll Drawmg Figures i3 2/ 1g 22 v 1? 21 I; 22 1 9 21 1;; 22 1g 21 18 i ,J l J J L 2 a, 1 12- v 22 i1 [1 F '24 .24 v

1A 15 F12 1 13 F7 9 16 24 204?- 01a. 6 201%- a i v V 13 13 a A machineof this type is, for example, described in the Applicants Belgianpatents Nos. 675,851 and The rib ends knitted on such a machine areintended for jersy machines. As it is sometimes desirable, for reasonsof extensibility or elasticity, to knit the rib ends on a larger widththan that of the jersey panels, to which they must be fitted, it isnecessary to bring the last row of each rib end to the exact width ofthe said jersey panels, whilst respecting the gauge.

The term used for that operation is doubling.

So far, that operation has had to be done by hand, by skilled labour. Itis therefore costly.

The object of the present invention is to mechanize the doublingprocess.

To that end, a process is proposed which, after a rib end has beenknitted on some of the needles of a machine of the considered type,consists of simultaneously transferring some of the loops of one needlebed on to the free needles of the other needle bed; of racking oneneedle bed in relation to the other; of then transferring the remainingloops from oneneedle bed on to the al-' ready laden needles of theother; of simultaneously picking up all the loops on one needle bed in amanner known per se; of bringing closer together the groups of loopsthus picked up, so as to have a distance of one needle spacing betweenany two varied stitches, and of needle bed 2 and carries them with therest of the rib end, of course, opposite to the teeth of magazine comb8. The transferdevice 9 passes the said loops from reed 7 to reed 8.

These operations are repeated cyclically until the desired number ofendshasbeen obtained on reed 8. The

latter is then'removed to be dispatched to a jersey mamagazine reed 8.

' chine. Means are provided'fo r racking the needle beds. Thesewell-known provisions are not part of the invention.

The process which is the subject hereof is now described with referenceto FIGS. 2 to 7.

A l X l fabric is first knitted as shown in FIG. 2. I

needles of the rear needle bed. In the example illustrated, wheredoubling is des'ired'every seventh loop, the loaded needles are dividedinto groups of seven, separated each time by two needle spacings thelast needle of each group bearing two loops.

The groups of loops situated on'the said rear needle bed are then pickedup simultaneously (FIG. v6). Then these groups are brought one needlespacing closer together so as to have a continuous row of loops to thegauge of the machine; this row is thenpresented to the For theimplementation of this process, two adaptations are necessary to theknown mechanism briefly 'described hereinbefore: the modification of theneedle raising devices-to effect the transfer in two the conditioning ofthe transfer reed.-

In the front needle bed 1, high heel needles are used for loopsconcerned with the first transfer and low heel needles for the otherloops. Opposite the low heel neephases; and

, dles, the lower wing 10 of the U-shaped catch bar 5 of be restrictive.With reference to the appended drawreed accordingto the principle'ofFIG. 10. v, V As shown in FIG. 1, arib' end machine of the type underconsideration comprises, per knitting headza front needle bed 1 anda'rear needle bed 2; two needle raising devices 3 and 4 comprisingU-shaped needle catch bars 5 and 6 intended to cover the needle heels ofthe corresponding needle bed, to bring theseneedles into high or lowposition; a transfer reed 7; a magazine reed 8 and a transfer device -9.Thisunit-is'well-known. Briefly it works in the following-manner: afterthe last row of loops of a rib end has been knitted, all'the loops aretransferred to the needles of one needle bed 2 by an appropriatemovement of raising device 3 and 4. Then reed 7 picks up these loopsfrom the'needles of the front needle raising device 3 has grooves 11 thedepth of which enables a low heel to pass but not a high one."

Thus, in its first upward movement, raising device 3 .carries along allthe high heel needles, whereas in its second upward movement, afterracking the front needle bed, it will carry along all the needles, sincegrooves ents no difficulty for a craftsman.-

which a doubling mustbe effectuated every seventh' stitch, eachof-these, blocks has seven teeth 13. These blocks 12 are guided betweentwo flats l4 and 15. To

thatend, flat 14 has a guide groove 16 into which a transversalprojection 17 of each block 12 fits.

On its lower side,-each block 12 has two transversal 1 grooves 18 and19.

In one of the grooves 18 or 19 of a block 12 is fixed the end 20 of abranch 21 of an L-shaped hook transversing groove 18 or 19 of thefollowing block, and of which the other branch 22 extends parallel tothe oppo- 23 is actuated in the direction of arrow F (FIG.

blocks 12 separate to a distance such that there is a space equal to twoneedle spacings between two groups of neighbouring teeth, whilst amovement in the opposite direction reduces this space to one needlespacing.

It is obvious that other means of controlling blocks 12 can becontemplated. Should the machine to be equipped be conditioned to knittwo cuffs simultaneously on one and the same knitting head theabovedescribed transfer reed would be made in two halves, simultaneouslycontrolled for opening and closing.

What i claim is: y

l. A process for making rib ends on a double needle bed rib and knittingmachine and transferring the rib ends onto a magazine reed having asmaller width than said rib ends as knit by means of a variable widthtransfer reed, comprising knitting a rib end on selected needle bedneedles, simulatneously transferring groups of loops of one needle bedonto the free needles of the other needle bed; racking said one needlebed in relation to said other needle bed at least one needle spacing;transferring the remaining loops from said one needle bed onto thealready laden needles of said other needle bed to thereby make variedloops in said groups 3 5 of loops; simultaneously picking up all theloops from said one needle bed in a manner known per se by said transferreed; bringing closer together on said transfer reed the said groups ofloops thus picked up until a distance of one needle spacing existsbetween any two varied loops; and transferring all the loops thus pickedup and brought closer together onto the said magazine reed from saidtransfer reed in a manner known per se.

2. In a rib end knitting machine having a double needle bed, means fortransferring selected loops of formed rib ends of one needle bed to theother needle bed to form groups of loops; means for racking said oneneedle bed with respect to said other needle bed at least one needlespacing and transferring the remaining loops on said one needle bed tothe already laden needles of said other needle bed to thereby form atleast one varied loop in each of said groups of loops on said otherneedle bed; said groups of loops being separated by more than one needlespacing between said varied loops; an adjustable width transfer reed forsimultaneously picking up said groups of loops from said other needlebed, said transferreed having means for adjusting its width whereby thespacings between said groups of loops may each be reduced to a singleneedle spacing; a magazine reed of less width than said rib ends asknitted; and means for transferring said groups of loops to saidmagazine reed, whereby said groups of loops may be transferred to saidmagazine reed after said transfer reed has been adjusted to leave onlysingle needle spacings between said groups of loops.

3. The knitting machine of claim 2, further wherein said adjustablewidth transfer reed comprises a plurality of teeth holding blocks, andmeans for moving said blocks with respect to each other to at least afirst position where a distance equal to a single needle spacing existsbetween all of said blocks, and to at least a second position where aspacing equal to some multiple of said needle spacing exists betweensaid blocks, said blocks further each having groups of teethcorresponding in number to the number of loops in each of said groups ofloops, and each of said teeth in said groups of teeth being spaced oneneedle spacing apart.

4. The knitting machine of claim 3, further wherein said adjustablewidth transfer reed includes means interconnecting said blocks forcausing all said blocks to move together or further apart substantiallysimultaneously when the width of said transfer reed is adjusted.

1. A process for making rib ends on a double needle bed rib and knittingmachine and transferring the rib ends onto a magazine reed having asmaller width than said rib ends as knit by means of a variable widthtransfer reed, comprising knitting a rib end on selected needle bedneedles, simulatneously transferring groups of loops of one needle bedonto the free needles of the other needle bed; racking said one needlebed in relation to said other needle bed at least one needle spacing;transferring the remaining loops from said one needle bed onto thealready laden needles of said other needle bed to thereby make variedloops in said groups of loops; simultaneously picking up all the loopsfrom said one needle bed in a manner known per se by said transfer reed;bringing closer together on said transfer reed the said groups of loopsthus picked up until a distance of one needle spacing exists between anytwo varied loops; and transferring all the loops thus picked up andbrought closer together onto the said magazine reed from said transferreed in a manner known per se.
 2. In a rib end knitting machine having adouble needle bed, means for transferring selected loops of formed ribends of one needle bed to the other needle bed to form groups of loops;means for racking said one needle bed with respect to said other needlebed at least one needle spacing and transferring the remaining loops onsaid one needle bed to the already laden needles of said other needlebed to thereby form at least one varied loop in each of said groups ofloops on said other needle bed; said groups of loops being separated bymore than one needle spacing between said varied loops; an adjustablewidth transfer reed for simultaneously picking up said groups of loopsfrom said other needle bed, said transfer reed having means foradjusting its width whereby the spacings between said groups of loopsmay each be reduced to a single needle spacing; a magazine reed of lesswidth than said rib ends as knitted; and means for transferring saidgroups of loops to said magazine reed, whereby said groups of loops maybe transferred to said magazine reed after said transfer reed has beenadjusted to leave only single needle spacings between said groups ofloops.
 3. The knitting machine of claim 2, further wherein saidadjustable width transfer reed comprises a plurality of teeth holdingblocks, and means for moving said blocks with respect to each other toat least a first position where a distance equal to a single needlespacing exists between all of said blocks, and to at least a secondposition where a spacing equal to some multiple of said needle spacingexists between said blocks, said blocks further each having groups ofteeth corresponding in number to the number of loops in each of saidgroups of loops, and each of said teeth in said groups of teeth beingspaced one needle spacing apart.
 4. The knitting machine of claim 3,further wherein said adjustable width transfer reed includes meansinterconnecting said blocks for causing all said blocks to move togetheror further apart substantially simultaneously when the width of saidtransfer reed is adjusted.